Along with the arrival of an aging society, senile dementia such as Alzheimer's-type dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies, Parkinson's disease, etc. has become a serious social issue.
The onset mechanism of these types of dementia has yet to be fully determined. However, a remarkable degeneration of cholinergic neurons is found in patients with Alzheimer's-type dementia, and the degeneration and loss of midbrain dopaminergic neurons are found in patients with Parkinson's disease. Such degeneration and loss are believed to cause the onset of dementia.
Neurotrophic factors (NTF) is a generic term for substances that promote the survival, differentiation, and regeneration of nerve cells. Specifically, these substances are high molecular proteins such as nerve growth factor (NGF), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), neurotrophin 3 (NT-3), etc. NGF acts on cholinergic neurons, and BDNF acts on both cholinergic neurons and midbrain dopaminergic neurons. If the activities of these neurotrophic factors are successfully enhanced, such enhancement is likely to produce effective prevention or treatment of the above-described dementia.
Patent Document 1 discloses the use of one of the components of Compositae plants, i.e., helioxanthin, as an agent to enhance the activity of a cell differentiation inducing factor.
However, an effective preventive or treatment agent for patients with senile dementia, whose number is expected to increase, has not yet been developed.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H9-151132